On the vast expanse of water where the silty Amazon mingles with the coffee-coloured Rio Negro, Amazon Indians and church leaders floated out on Sunday to bless the waters and protect them from drought. Such a prospect seems incredible in Manaus, a Brazilian port city where both the Amazon and Rio Negro are more than 8km wide and 300m deep.
Lebanon shook under a new wave of air raids on Monday after Israel vowed a fierce response to Hezbollah guerrilla attacks with no sign of a let-up in a conflict that has killed about 200 people in six days. At least 21 people were killed as fighter jets slammed missiles into the port of Beirut, a military base in the northern city of Tripoli, and Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold in the east.
Over 40 people were killed in a car bomb attack and shooting at a crowded market in a violent town just outside Baghdad on Monday, police said. Witnesses in the small town of Mahmudiya, south of the capital, said they heard several explosions and heavy gunfire.
The United States has agreed to sell Taiwan 66 F-16C/D warplanes to boost Taipei’s self defence against China. Tsai Ming-shien, former deputy secretary general of the National Security Council, closed the deal on the F-16C/D warplanes early this month in California during annual Taiwan-US defence meetings.
The Harare government is to meet Russian energy officials this week to discuss energy investment in Zimbabwe’s power sector, Zim Online reported on Monday. It said officials from Russia’s TurboEngineering firm were expected to arrive in Harare on Sunday night.
Trade union Solidarity will hold a mass meeting of its members employed at petrochemicals group Sasol on Monday to decide on Sasol’s latest wage offer. Solidarity’s members are currently voting on the offer, which was tabled by Sasol last Thursday.
Forty years ago during the Cultural Revolution, it took an edict from China’s then premier Zhou Enlai to protect the Potala Palace from the destruction of the infamous Red Guards. Now a new menace — tourism — threatens the jewel of Tibetan Buddhism, which has come to be the symbol of Tibet.
The prime interest rate and the variable mortgage interest rate are expected to reach 12,5% by year-end which means that house prices are likely to increase by around 12% year-on-year in nominal terms this year, according to banking group Absa.
European group Airbus will on Monday unveil new design plans for its troubled long-haul A350 plane, Thomas Enders, co-chief executive of Airbus’s parent company EADS, told reporters. The cost of developing the mid-sized jet could meanwhile more than double to about $10-billion, added the German boss.
The lights aren’t completely out in Lebanon yet. The bloggers in Beirut are still typing furiously away in front of their computer screens. Although Israeli air strikes have taken out much of the country’s infrastructure and cut electricity to parts of the capital, people are turning to the internet as one of their information sources — and to get their views out.